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Sequencer in Loopy Pro: Can Seek Timeline action be quantized?
I'm exploring using the Sequencer and wondering if the Seek Timeline action can be quantized?
Appears it can't be but hoping I'm missing something bc would be nice to be able to move to another section when the current section ends vs immediately, which can end up making the timing of you tap or button press (to initiate the seek timeline) very challenging from a timing perspective
Thanks
Comments
All actions can be quantized. Tap on the dot next to an action for the timing options. You can also use follow actions in dummy clips at the beginning or ends of sections to trigger actions.
Thanks, but is there an easy way to set to "seek timeline" at end of this loop/section? All I see in the dot are a number of bars.
Would rather not go the "the follow actions in dummy clips at the beginning or ends of sections to trigger actions" if I can avoid it, Thanks
There isn’t. Can you describe or post a sketch what you want to do ?
Sure. When a section is playing in the sequencer, I'd like to press a button while that section is playing in the sequencer, and have the playhead seek to the start of a different section but trigger only when the current playing section ends.
Currently, when I set up a button with a press action of seek timeline, pressing the button immediately moves the playhead, which makes the timing challenging to keep things in rhythm, so I'd rather have it seek timeline (to the start of the new section) when the currently playing section ends and on the beat
Let me know if you need more clarification and I'm happy to provide
Thanks
@danm if you don’t want to resort to trickery (follow actions combined with widgets), I think you’d have to make due with triggering and setting the timing to quantize to the next measure.
Thanks. By "quantize to the next measure", are you just saying pick 1 or 2 or 4 beats in the timing section and try to time it right when I press? Sorry, if I'm missing something, just not sure what you mean.
Also, if I do resort to trickery, what's the best way to figure out how to implement " use follow actions in dummy clips at the beginning or ends of sections to trigger actions.", because I'm not sure how to do that...is there an URL you can point to? Thanks
In timing actions, if you set quantization to one bar, the action is performed at the next measure boundary. You can trigger at any time in the bar and the action is performed at the bar boundary. You could also quantize to other numbers of bars.
As far as using dummy clips, there is either a template or tutorial on the discord that uses dummy clips and widgets to do some timeline trickery. It might give you some ideas. There may be other tutorials out there, too.
Have tried to do 2 bars but hasn't worked as expected (seems more immediate), let me keep trying and I'll let you know i I have further questions
Okay, will search in the discord for this, thanks
What do you mean it happened sooner than expected? If you set it to two bars , it happens at the beginning of the next to bar cycle. So, if you trigger towards the end of a two bar cycle it will happen soon. If you trigger towards the beginning you have till the end of the cycle.
@danm : if it doesn't work as you expect, post screenshots of the setup and a demonstration screen recording. If there is a problem, we will look into. If not, I'll explain.
I created a button on press to seek timeline and set to 16 bars.
Should I be able to press the button anytime while the sequencer is playing this 16 bar section (see screenshot) and have the seek timeline happen at the end of this 16 bar section?
Here’s the button config
Part of why I’m confused about the semantics is I’m expecting an easy way to tell LP:
If I trigger a seek timeline action while you are playing a section, do that upon completion of the current section ( but sounds like I will have to engage in trickery to achieve that, based on what you said previously)
@danm: quantizing to 16 bars means the beginning of the next 16 bar cycle. So if you are at bar 5, for example, the next cycle starts at bar 17. Since your 16 bars don’t start at the beginning, the section doesn’t line up with a 16-bar cycle.
I’ve explained that there isn’t quantizing by section. I understand that is what you want. I am not sure what I have said that gives you an expectation that such a feature exists.
Later today, I will post an example of how you can use a widget and clip with dummy action to determine where the playhead goes when a section end is reached
Ya, what you said made sense, but then you said:
"If you set it to two bars , it happens at the beginning of the next to bar cycle. So, if you trigger towards the end of a two bar cycle it will happen soon. If you trigger towards the beginning you have till the end of the cycle."
which made me want to double check, but guess my initial understanding of what you said was accurate..but to answer your Q, this last post was what made me want to double check what you meant
Thanks for the offer to post an example later today, appreciate it
Do you see that what you set up does not correspond to what I described?
I'm saying your description confused me. I think the best next step is to await the example you offered to post later today and if you're too busy to do that, I understand and I'll search around the discord. Thanks
I’d like to clear up the confusion. Understanding how quantization works is critical to how Loopy works.
For your first experiment, do as I suggested and use 1 or 2 bar quantization of ANY action. And notice how it fires at the beginning of the next 1 of two bar click cycle.
I understand how quantization works in LP, thanks
I'm trying to explore using the sequencer for playing specific song structures, so trying to make sure I understand that side of things better moving forward.
Thanks
@Danm: I am a little confused. You said earlier that setting action quantization to 1 bar or 2 bars didn’t work as you expected. So, I’d like to either find out if you encountered a bug of which we aren’t aware of clear up whatever made the behavior seem unexpected.
If something doesn't work as expected, I'll definitely let you know.
What confused me, above, was your description of what to expect, not the functionality.
Now that I understand how it works in the sequencer, we're set there. I'll do some more testing and let you know if anything doesn't work as expected.
I just hoped there would be an easy way to trigger something at the end of a section in the sequencer, w/o trickery and appears there is not, so that was the root of my inquiry. I'll consider the "trickery" way, once I understand that better.
Thanks
Without trickery, the simplest thing is to quantize the seek actions to 1 or 2 bars and activate them in the bar and r two before the section ends. I understand that isn’t what you want. Since what you want isn’t built-in, you will need to either use trickery or accept a different way of triggering scene changes than you envisioned.
Right, you said there was some trickery covered in the Discord that I hope to understand more about soon, thanks
I've only ever expected that I need to get a foot tap in during the last bar or two of a song section to move to the next. Sure, it would be kind of nice to have the freedom to tap anywhere in a song section, but that comes at the cost of complexity. Complexity kills in live work.
Sorry for the un-asked for editorial.
Do you have an URL for the discord info you mention here?
In Loopy’s help menu, tap Communities to get a link to the Discord.
I'm a member.
I'm asking for a pointer/URL to the template or tutorial on the discord that uses dummy clips and widgets to do some timeline trickery. You suggested I have a look at that and after 20 minutes of searching the discord, I still haven't found it, so wondering if you can share a pointer, please
In the templates section there is one with the title: Sequence Navigation and Section Looping. It is probably not terribly far down the list
I’ve also just posted another which will be the top of the list.
Sorry that I don’t have the links handy at the moment. If you can’t find them in the Templates section, let me know and I’ll post them when I have a chance.
https://discord.com/channels/922977925182132245/1207093000480624710
https://discord.com/channels/922977925182132245/1351669618187436083
Thanks, I’m now a (self-certified) expert in Context-Sensitive Actions Using Follow Actions and Stepped Dials and how to apply this concept to achieve the technique described above to jump to specific sections of a sequenced song, using the dial itself, a dedicated button, or midi controller
In this example, I only have several sections that I may want to jump to (or jump back to):
The start of the song, the second part, and a bridge/groove/musical break about 2/3 of the way through.
It is working very well!
A couple screenshots:
@danm : Great!